


Under A Starry Sky

by juliesioux



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Episode: s05e23 Lian Yu, F/M, Felicity Smoak POV, Lian Yu, Love, Major Character Injury, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, post episode 523, sex under the stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 11:00:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11012085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juliesioux/pseuds/juliesioux
Summary: This one shot picks up after the explosions on Lian Yu in Episode 5x23 but from Felicity's perspective as she wakes up afterwards.She drifts between reality and dreams and remembers a night shared with Oliver under the stars one night before they returned to Star City in Season 3.5.It's full of pain and confusion but it is all Felicity Smoak.





	Under A Starry Sky

_Lost in the darkness_  
_No light to guide her_  
_He calls._

She couldn’t open her eyes but she can breathe. Short, jagged breaths that left her lungs screaming for more oxygen. She heard a deafening tearing sound, like the earth was being ripped apart by giant hands, and then darkness swallowed her up.

It was the quiet that pulled her awake. The world was silent. She tasted copper, organic, almost mossy, and gritty. Her mouth was full of something that felt like a paste but she couldn’t spit it out. She couldn’t move her head. Felicity felt as though a blanket of heavy, dense wool had been laid over top of her, it formed to her body and anchored her to the earth.

Darkness rose up to find her, its comforting arms wrapped themselves around her consciousness and pulled her into its cool embrace. She relaxed into it until the memory of an explosion filtered through her mind. At first she thought she was dreaming about Havenrock and felt a fist of panic in her gut, threatening to paralyze her in the terror that usually followed, but she could smell the ocean and there was a strange buzzing in her ear, a high pitched whining sound like a electrical feedback.

Her mind felt fractured. Dueling memories were battling for her attention, making her nauseous and dizzy. The paste in her mouth seemed to swell in size, threatening to choke her. It was agonizing but she managed to spit the mixture out. Her lips felt chapped and shredded and her lungs were burning in their quest for fresh air. A low moan escaped her, one that was full of pain and relief, as cool air flowed into her body.

_Lian Yu, she thought as she struggled to remain conscious, I am on Lian Yu and it exploded. This isn’t Havenrock. This isn’t Havenrock. This isn’t Havenrock._

Taking as deep a breath as she could, Felicity tried to calm her thoughts. She could breathe but she couldn’t see. Her eyes were coated in something damp and sticky and she was afraid to force her eyes open in case the debris was sharp or maybe mixed with something corrosive and dangerous. Instead, she needed to discover if she could move.

Tentatively, she moved her hands, flexing her fingers one by one, then rotating her wrists, trying to see if anything was broken. Next, she carefully tried to bend her arms at the elbows. A stab of white hot pain ran up her left arm. She blanked out for a minute but came back to herself, gasping and panting. Her arm could move but something was wrong with her elbow. Whatever had happened felt bad but not fatal.

Next up were her toes. She silently prayed that her bio-implant still worked, that the violence of the explosions hadn’t damaged it or her in any way. So far, things seemed to be working. She could feel her toes moving in her shoes. She could feel her knees, thighs and calves. She felt battered and bruised but otherwise whole. If she could have shouted for joy, she would have but she was too exhausted to make even a whisper.

The effort of locating her body beneath the layers of pain had drained her. With her eyes unable to open, she had no idea if it were day or night. She had no idea as to how long she has been unconscious. All she knew, as she let her body and mind be claimed by the dense, heavy darkness of shock, was that she was alive. She had survived and just needed to catch her breath.

Memories of another night came flooding back. A night that she thought would end in more love and happiness than she thought possible but in fact ended in a darkness so cold and deep she was sure she would never resurface. In her mind, she had called for Oliver until was sure all the creatures of the earth could hear her, but he never came. She was alone in a silent world of the most profound pain she had ever felt, drowning in blood and agonizing loneliness.

She wondered how Oliver had survived when for him, death was a memory. She had faced it and fought with everything she had in her, refusing to bow down to it. After Havenrock, she felt like she could welcome it if it had come calling and now here she was, buried, battered and bruised fighting with everything she had. Her future was with Oliver not the grave.

**FELICITY!**

**FELICITY!**

The sound of her name being shouted jolted her awake. She couldn’t figure out if someone was actually calling her name or if it was coming from inside her head. The air was cold, much colder than earlier and at first she was confused as to why. Then the sounds of the forest, now upended and in unnatural chaos, filtered through the fog of shock and pain and she remembered.

She remembered it all. She remembered every single moment from the League kidnapping her and Diggle to the trip to Lian Yu and being caged like an animal by Chase. But most of all she remembered the panic in Oliver’s voice right before her world turned upside down.

_“Go! Go now!” Oliver had shouted through the comlink._

_She had turned to Slade and told him what Oliver had said. That there was an ARGUS supply ship in the bay on the opposite side of the island, that they needed to get to it ASAP. Slade looked at her for a moment, his eyes narrowed in thought, then he nodded and lead them to a strange cleft in the side of a small embankment a few hundred metres into the forest._

_It was an opening to some sort of cave, hidden behind a fallen limb from the tree above it. Slade explained it was a shortcut of sorts, that they wouldn’t have enough time to make it before Chase used the Deadman’s Switch, and this was the best and only way to keep them all alive. Felicity hung back and watched as everyone made their way inside. She wanted to be available if Oliver called for help. She needed to be available._

_He had William and had defeated Chase but he might call out for something, anything, and she needed to hear his voice for possibly the last time. She needed to know that he was alive, that he was going to survive even if she didn’t. The fear of not knowing was ripping her heart apart. Every part of her wanted to run for the shore he had left them all for. To find the boat and him._

_From inside the cave’s entrance, Slade yelled at her to follow them or she would get caught in the explosion. He was convinced that Chase would blow Lian Yu up regardless if he beat Oliver or not and wanted everyone deep in the cave as soon as possible. There was something about it that seemed to give Slade a strange kind of comfort. He was confident and anxious. A combination that made her nervously optimistic._

_Reluctantly, Felicity turned and had just stepped across the threshold when the island roared. It screamed as trees ripped apart, as mountains fell to rubble and everything that had torn Oliver apart as a man, that had killed as it gave life, relinquished their physical form to the North China Sea. The explosions that went off around her, pummeled her body. They threw her against the earthen wall in front of her and suddenly she felt airborne, the air blowing hot and full of debris past her. She had opened her mouth to scream when something hit her in the side of the head and everything went dark._

_Chase had done it. Lian Yu was destroyed._

**FELICITY!**

Her name came again, helping to focus her attention to the present, but she still couldn’t figure out if it was real or whose voice was calling her. Everything was dark and cold and her left elbow was throbbing, hot and tight. Felicity felt something cold and wet on her face and assumed it was rain. If only she could move her head so that she could drink from the offerings from the sky, no matter how salty it might be, but she simply didn’t have the energy or power to move her body.

Yet, as her consciousness shrunk to a pinpoint allowing darkness to leak back in, she knew deep down that she wanted to live. Her last conscious thought was of wondering why she was so cold. She didn’t think it was nighttime but if it was, she wished she could open her eyes to see the stars.

 

_Felicity enjoyed adventures with Oliver. No matter where they were or where the adventures took them. One day, about a month after moving into the house in Ivy Town, she had suggested a two or three day camping trip. He had looked at her like she was insane but after a few minutes with a map and guide to remote campsites, he was sold. They packed up, let the neighbours know they were leaving for a few days and took off, smiling and laughing like teenagers._

_They had picked the Pacific Coast Trail for a weekend getaway. Not that life in Ivy Town was all that rough but they had the freedom to do it. To get in their Jeep and just drive. She loved it. She loved the happiness that literally burst out of Oliver when she would suggest they go on a road trip and get away, like it is something deliciously daring and forbidden._

_The first night was one she would remember on cold nights when she was alone, in the months were she and Oliver were separated by his inability to live with truth as a guiding principle between them. It was as close to perfect as any night they had shared together but what made it special was the attention to detail Oliver was able to demonstrate in a few short days before they left. From the food, to the equipment, to the location. How he had done it all with her at the front of his mind._

_They had found a spot that was at least half a mile away from any other campsite. It was secluded but not quiet. The size of the campsite was deceptive. They were hidden from the gravel road that lead to it by small thicket of cedar and Douglas fir trees, the small clearing where they had set up their tent was carved from smaller, shorter growing cedars and hemlock trees but it faced wide open sky and the wild, chaotic Northwest Pacific Coast ocean. Only a small rise of sandy soil supporting only the heartiest of beach grass separated them from the waves crashing on a rocky shore._

_They had arrived in the evening and had had to race to get the tent up before they were completely out of sunlight. Oliver had her hold the instructions, ignored her calling out suggestions and put the tent up in under five minutes. He was amazing when it came to understanding how things should be put together. His survival skills were on full display for her in a way she had never seen before. He was quiet, focused and moved with a compact efficiency that caused her heart to beat a little bit faster. When he was done, she sat in silence and just watched him as he mentally ticked off the boxes of the things he needed to do and the things he had done._

_“Oliver?” she had said softly._  
_“Hmm?” he answered absentmindedly._  
_“What did you bring for dinner?”_  
_“What do you want? I pre-made almost everything, we just need to heat it up over the fire, which I will build next, and I made sure to bring wine, too,” he said with a smile._  
_“I’ll open the wine, how about you make us something quick and easy?”_  
_“Quick and easy?”_  
_“Yes. Quick and easy.”_  
_“Why, Ms. Smoak,” he began in his atrocious Southern drawl, causing her to groan in mock agony, “I do think you have something nefarious in mind to do to me.”_  
_“Not anymore,” she grumbled as she walked away._

_Oliver’s laugh followed her as she walked to the back of the Jeep to grab the wine and some camp glasses. A light to her left flickered on and she almost let out a yelp of surprise. For some reason, their campsite came with its own bathroom, equipped with a shower, tub and change room. Given their distance from the main campground, she was extremely grateful, she hated peeing in the woods, and the light helped her find her way back to their camp._

_By the time she got back with the wine, Oliver had the fire going, their camp table and chairs set up and was watching the last dying rays of the setting sun over the roiling waves. He looked relaxed, comfortable and at peace with the world around him. They had only been back in the states for a couple of months but he was still so content to just be with her in their home with no late night violent activities. With a small smile, she had put the wine down and walked up behind him._

_“If I didn’t know better,” she said softly, “I’d think you were back in your natural habitat.”_  
_“Only if you were with me,” he mused in a quiet, tender voice, the one that stirred something primal in her. She loved how softly he spoke when he was with her. It was a voice he only ever used when they were together. It was slightly higher than his Green Arrow voice and was almost musical in tone. She used to make him read to her just so she could hear it as she fell asleep._

_Wrapping her arms around him, she stood and watched the sunset. Felicity sighed softly when she felt him shift, so that he was angled more towards her, and then his arms pulled her close. They didn’t speak. They just stood there, lost in a world of their own creation, until the only light was that of the campfire behind them._

_“Time for dinner?” he asked quietly._  
_“Yes, please.”_  
_“So polite,” he murmured as he kissed the top of her head._  
_“Oliver?”_  
_“Hmmm?”_  
_“The food isn’t going to cook itself.”_

_In one swift motion, Oliver bent down slightly and picked her up fireman style and carried her back to the fire. She swore at him until he howled with laughter and had to put her down. It was a running game. He would scoop her up and carry her in ways he knew would frustrate or annoy her. It was usually a precursor to something more, like tonight, but Felicity was starving and wanted dinner first._

_“Ok, dinner coming up! What colour wine did you grab?” he asked as he made his way to the food cooler in the Jeep._  
_“Red.”_  
_“Perfect.”_

_Oliver had made campfire dinners wrapped in foil. Potatoes, carrots, corn and steak. She was skeptical but ate every last bite. It was amazing. The wine was perfect. Everything so far was perfect. When true darkness set in and the fire was burning low, she made an excuse about wanting to lie down and headed into the tent._

_It was only when she had stripped down and got into the enormous sleeping bag on the amazing foam mattress she had found in an outdoor equipment store, because she refused to sleep on the ground like he was so comfortable with, that she looked up and saw the tent had no roof, just the tight netting that was on the windows on the sides. Oliver had taken off the protective tarp so that they could see the sky._

_“Hey, are you awake,” came a soft voice_ _from outside the tent._  
_“Of course,” she laughed, “Get in here.”_

_Oliver unzipped the tent and dove in, zipping it back up after taking off his shoes. He undressed and slipped into the sleeping bag beside her. His skin was cold and he smelled faintly of cedar and smoke. He opened his arms to her and she moved immediately into them, tenderly kissing the tattoo above his heart as she got comfortable next to him._

_“So tonight we sleep under the stars?” she asked teasingly._  
_“Who said anything about sleep?” he answered, his voice low and full of heat._

_Without another word, he turned on his side so that he could see her. They were barely touching now but the air around them was supercharged, ready to ignite. She felt his fingertips move down the side of her face, tracing her cheek and jaw before moving down the length of her neck. High above them, the Milky Way shimmered into view unnoticed. Ancient starlight gathered and shone down, turning everything faintly silver._

_Smiling at him, Felicity pulled him closer, “I’ve always wanted to sleep in a tent under the stars.”_  
_“You never did this as a kid?” he asked softly, his lips hovering above hers._  
_“My mom never had enough time off,” she murmured as he moved a fraction of an inch closer._  
_“We’ll do this again,” he said softly._  
_“Hmmmm…,” she hummed as his lips finally found hers._

_He tasted elemental. Like fire, earth and air. He was salty, electric and alive. His tongue slipped past her lips and she welcomed it, pulling it deeper into her mouth, loving the velvety smooth feel of it as it dance around her own. His right hand moved through her hair and then down her back. He hummed in pleasure when he found her completely naked as well._

_His fingertips gently traced the scars on her back. The roughness of them, from years of handling the bow, caused her to shiver._

_“Are you cold?” he asked softly as he kissed her underneath her ear._  
_“No…,” she said, her voice husky and low, “No, not cold…”_

_She could feel his body respond and knew it would only take a moment more of her lightly scratching his back, her fingers tenderly pressing into the untouched skin, before his breathing would change and his hands would grip her hips or he would pull her to him with one of his hands finding their way between her legs. She loved the way the callouses on the fingers of his right hand felt on the delicate skin of her inner thighs and the way they rasped over her sensitive clit._

_The sound of the waves, now washing over the shore in softer crests as the tide moved out, created the rhythm they followed. Felicity pushed herself up and slowly moved to straddle his hips. Oliver looked up at her, mesmerized, his eyes shining, and she waited for his hands to find their way up and over her breasts before pulling him up to sitting._

_He was so strong and sure as the Green Arrow but sometimes, in quiet moments like this, he was hesitant and shy. It was endearing and sweet but misleading. Felicity could feel the building tension in the way he was shifting and moving, in the way he kissed her and the low growl of desire that rumbled out of him, reverberating through her body. She moved so that she was sitting astride him, his cock hard and heavy against her belly, and she kissed him, deep and long, until he moaned and in one powerful motion flipped them so she was on her back, all that hesitancy lost in the powerful hurricane of lust and desire that blew through them._

_There was no stopping the wanting of him now as she reached between them, firmly grasped him and guided him into her body. Oliver rolled his hips, thrusting slowly and and steadily to the rhythm of the waves. Felicity opened her eyes, and watched the Universe burst into life above Oliver’s head. She moved her hands over his chest, feeling the way his muscles rippled under his skin, knowing how strong he was but taking note of how tender and kind he always was with her._

_She straightened her legs out under him just enough to increase the tension in how he fit in her body. The intimacy of how he touched her while he gently rolled his hips, lead her closer and closer to her orgasm, caused her to focus to split. She was intensely aware of the feel of how he moved inside her and how it would only be a matter of time before she came, with the taste of him on her tongue. But when she opened her eyes, she saw meteorites streak across the sky as though falling to earth to join them, and thought again of how closely they were connected. Soul mates always seemed like such a trite term but it fit. It made sense when she looked up at him and saw the Universe acting as witness._

_The pressure and spreading warmth in her lower pelvis was racing out of control. It felt like her blood was on fire in her veins and for a moment she thought of herself as a volcano, ready to erupt. Oliver’s hips picked up speed and his breathing grew ragged just as her orgasm ripped through her. Felicity clung to him, her hips slammed into his, trying to get him to move faster, harder. She gripped his ass, feeling the strength of his muscles under her hands, as she shuddered and bucked underneath him._

_“Oh God, I love you, Oliver,” she murmured over and over. Her mantra wasn’t new, it was written on her heart, but saying the words held such power, she needed him to hear them every chance she could say them._

_He didn’t answer her, he was lost in a fugue of his own, his eyes on hers. Unwavering, bright and full of desire. He had tried so hard to keep his movements controlled, to prolong the moment for her. The next orgasm took her by surprise. It had been building slowly but then rocketed out of her, shaking her bones and mind as she pulsed around his now throbbing cock. She pulled him down and kissed him, refusing to relinquish his lips and tongue even as he came, so hot and alive, with the taste of her name on his lips._

_“One day, we will make it past three minutes,” he chuckled, low in his throat._  
_“One day, but not today,” she chuckled softly._  
_“I love you, Felicity Smoak.”_  
_“I should hope so!”_

_Laughing, he slowly pulled out of her and laid down, welcoming her to lay her head on his chest. She loved him more than the meaning of the words could contain. Times might get rough in the future but in that moment, she felt that they were invincible._

_“Let’s watch the stars for a while,” he said in his soft, for her ears only voice._  
_“Then round two?”_  
_“Felicity!” he laughed._  
_“What? Do you honestly think we are going to sleep anytime before dawn?” she said in mock surprise._  
_“No, but let me regain my composure,” he said softly, “I’m not a young man anymore.”_  
_“I’ll say,” she muttered._

_Her laughter had filled the night air, joyous and ebullient, as he purposefully rubbed his three day scruff in the crook of her neck._

**FELICITY!**

The voice broke through and pulled her back up to the pain of her reality. It held such power and strength. It commanded her attention and she wanted to call back. For whoever it was to find her, to help her back to her feet. She gripped the earth beneath her and tried to push herself up to her knees but remained motionless.

**FELICITY!**

She needed to get up. To move. She needed to find Diggle, Thea, Curtis and the rest of her team. Even Slade and Samantha. But first she needed to open her eyes but the thought of it terrified her. She tried to move and heard herself whimpering. A sound she loathed but it was all she could do as the wave of prickly, white hot pain that flowed over her left her clammy and cold. If she was going to live, she had to move and Felicity wanted to live, above all else, she wanted to live.

Taking a deep breath, she used her right arm to push herself onto her side and felt the shifting of bone on bone. Her ribs were cracked but not broken. She was damaged but alive. The effort to move cost her though and the cold fingers of unconsciousness were reaching for her again. Her thoughts turned inward and she searched for a memory filled with sunlight, warmth and the sound of Oliver’s voice.

**FELICITY!**

The voice, so familiar yet she couldn’t place it, was getting closer but she was unable to call out. She tried but not even the ghost of a whisper past her lips. The frustration was mounting and she thought she felt tears in her eyes beginning to form. She felt defeated. There was nothing she could do unless she could open her eyes, unless she could move.

Her thoughts turned to Oliver and where he might be. She felt a hitch in her breathing and sorrow filled her body. She could still feel the way his lips from what could have been their last kiss. She could hear the softness in his voice, the love that flowed out of him in just a few short words. If that was her last memory of him, she was grateful. With a small sigh, Felicity felt like maybe it was ok to let go. The island was trying to swallow her whole and she didn’t have the energy to fight it.

“Felicity? I FOUND HER!” the voice yelled out. There was no echo anymore, she noticed, Chase had changed the way sound moved.

Distantly, she heard footsteps running towards her and felt dirt being lifted by the handful off of her. She felt hands run over her body, searching for wounds, for broken bones, for damage only found by touch. She wanted to reach back, to feel another person because she had thought all was lost.

“Felicity? Honey..,” the voice trailed off in panic and desperation, “I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt. Your elbow is dislocated and I need to put it back into place. Just take a deep breath and count to seven…”

She wanted to tell them no, that it could wait. She needed to see, to get up and move when a hand pressed hard against her left shoulder and another took hold of her wrist. What happened next was brutal in execution but effective. In one swift, hard pull, her elbow was snapped back into place. If she could have screamed, she would have but as the pain subsided, she was finally able to think straight. Her elbow would throb and hurt later but for the moment she had clarity.

Felicity felt cool water flow over her face. She felt gentle hands begin the slow process of cleaning her face. Small cuts stung and her eyes were burning. She hoped she would be able to see when the time came. The entire time she was being tended to, the voice kept talking to her, calling her back to herself.

“Take a small sip,” it encouraged, “Your throat must be parched. That’s it….small sips…”

The water flowed down her throat. It hurt. It burned. But it felt like heaven. She coughed and spat out what tasted like blood and earth, her mouth finally free of the paste formed from unimaginable violence and hate. She wanted more but the hand that held the canteen gently pulled it away. It was the right thing to do but she wanted to sob in frustration. She needed to open her eyes, she needed to find out if everyone was alive and then she needed to find Oliver but it wasn’t time yet.

_Not yet, she thought as gentle hands moved through her hair, pulling debris out as they did._  
_Not yet, she thought dreamily, as more water once again flowed over her eyes._  
_Not yet, she thought as she reached with her good arm for the body that contained the voice._

“Ok, slowly now, you need to open your eyes,” said the voice, tears hidden between the letters in the words, “I need to make sure your eyes are ok.”

Slowly, Felicity opened one eye and then the other. She saw indistinct shapes moving high above her. It reminded her of looking through the eyepiece of a kaleidoscope, everytime the wind blew the shapes rearranged themselves into new forms. She couldn’t tell if they were people or trees. Her body felt like it was one giant bruise and the hands that were ministering to her kept finding new ones, like she was layers of damaged tissue and bone. She closed her eyes again. Searching for rest.

“Come on, Felicity,” the voice called to her, “Open your eyes. Look at me.”

Fear took hold of her. Opening her eyes would let reality in and she was safer lost in the vast caverns of memories in her mind. But curiosity won out and Felicity opened her eyes and attempted to find the person the voice above her belonged to. Slowly, everything came into focus and she saw eyes so blue she knew them immediately. Eyes that only ever looked at her with love, respect and trust but now shone with tears.

Then she smiled, as best she could around cracked and cut lips, she knew those eyes like her own. They held the light of the universe in them, ancient galaxies long since dead, and she knew. How could she not recognize the voice and the gentle, healing touch of this man? This brave and complicated man.

Felicity smiled and reached for him, despite the pain coursing through her body. He was crying, the aftermath of shock and adrenaline, but she dried his tears with shaking hands. Her throat, so raw and parched, was crying out for more water but she needed him to hear her say something. She pulled his face up so she could look him into his eyes, eyes that reflected back so much pain and love, and she smiled, her thumbs tracing the tracks of his tears.

“Hey,” was all she said, all she could say, and finally, he smiled.


End file.
